Company car during notice period

singhini

Hi


A friend has just handed her notice in at work thus activating her one months notice.


The employer has said to her to work until the end of the month and on the 31st to drop her company car and laptop off at head office (and they will provide her a train ticket to get back home).


thereafter she is to take any unused annual leave which will take her to the end of her one month notice period.


her question is: Legally is she not entitled to keep the car untill the last day of her notice period i.e. the last day of her unused annual leave (can her company make her give the car back on the 31st which is mid way through her notice period).?

leslieknope

a company car is a perk and she would no longer need it for business so no, she has no legal claim to keep it until the last day of her notice period. they can ask for the car back at any time, even if she were still working there.

Twopints

leslieknope wrote: »

a company car is a perk and she would no longer need it for business so no, she has no legal claim to keep it until the last day of her notice period. they can ask for the car back at any time, even if she were still working there.

Really? Is she to be paid until the end of her notice or is that a "perk" too? If it was a car allowance rather than an actual car, she would be paid it until end of notice - why would a car be any different?

singhini

Thanks leslieknope and twopints


When I read the first post by leslieknope I thought fair enough, I can see it from the employers point of view i.e. the last physical working day is 31st and so my friend doesn't need the car for work as she's on annual leave.


But then having read the second post by twopints, its also a valid point which made me think, if my friend needs to take her annual leave as part of the notice period then perhaps she should go on annual leave now and then come back to work for the last two weeks of the notice period (i.e. opposite way around to what her employer has stated). That way she would have the car for the full four week notice period.


(surely the company cannot specify which weeks are on-territory and customer facing and which weeks must be taken as annual leave - surely aslong as the annual leave is taken within the notice period that's the only requirement).

sangie595

The employer can dictate when she takes her leave. And they have - she cannot simply take it at another time. And they can still reclaim the car for the final weeks anyway and tell her to catch the bus! They could also make her work the whole leave and give her rotten work to do. Really, is it worth the hassle for two weeks?

singhini

Thanks sangie595


I agree, I said "it seems to have worked out well, your working for a couple of more days and then you can put your feet up until mid November when the new job starts" (but I got the impression she needs the car until the new job starts to get about and so not pleased she's being asked to return it).


I got the impression the two women (my friend and her manager) don't get on and thus my friend thought perhaps the boss was making it difficult for her), example being that the 4 pervious people who have left this year had their cars collected from their homes yet my friend is being told to drive it to head office which is roughly 180 miles away and about a 4 hour return train journey).


I'm not going to get in-between two women but I think my friend will be challenging her boss as to why she's being treated differently to other employees.


Thanks once again.

sangie595

I'd have to observe that it is not the employers problem that she needs a car to get about because she doesn't own one! If I were to be an awkward manager, I might then insist that payroll hang on to her wages until such time as the car had been checked for damage, and that might take a few weeks. At least. And I could do that. Sometimes, it is advisable to think about the battles you start.

Undervalued

leslieknope wrote: »

a company car is a perk and she would no longer need it for business so no, she has no legal claim to keep it until the last day of her notice period. they can ask for the car back at any time, even if she were still working there.

Not necessarily!

It depends on the terms under which the car was supplied. If it is available for private use it is a (taxable) benefit and part of the employee's salary package. Under those circumstances then she is entitled to keep it until the last day of employment or be compensated in some other way for the loss of the benefit.

leslieknope

even if the car was available for private use, it is a benefit and thus can be rescinded should the employer choose. it would be a lot of hassle to change her tax code or refund that percentage of tax she had paid for a benefit she was no longer getting, but certainly not illegal.

i assume from the OP and title that it is a company car used for business (perhaps with a private mileage allowance) so you can see their point that as she is no longer doing work, she doesn't need the car. it's not their issue that she doesn't have another car in order to get around.

whether he feels she is being treated differently is another question. but legally there is nothing to say she is entitled to use the car for private use during her notice period. (and no, pay is not a perk)